Atheros ar928x working...

[pytheas22]

geruetzel: I'm sorry to hear you had to go back to Vista, but I understand. If you ever want to give Ubuntu another try, I'm still happy to help you figure out the wireless. I'm less experienced dealing wth video issues, but I'd help you with the ATI problems as best I can, too.

kungfoofool: it's strange that things work WEP enabled, but it could have to do with your access point being strange, as you mention. If other APs work fine, I would suspect something odd about your configuration solving the problem. Of course, if the connection works fine in Windows, it should also work fine in Ubuntu, but if you're satisfied with the situation now, we should probably leave well enough alone.

(Otherwise, the next thing I'd suggest is to try ndiswrapper, which I know gerueztel already tried, but unless the Atheros modules were blacklisted, ndiswrapper would not have taken effect.)

[kungfoofool]

I guess I'll have to use ndiswrapper, because now I'm back to square one. It seems to randomly be able to connect just fine, and then later it'll drop and I can't reconnect at all (now I've seen the same thing occur with other APs).

It appears that others are having similar problems.

Edit:
After compiling the driver, I'm now having issues with dropped packets (avging about 50% packet loss) and it appears that attempting to connect is even worse than it was.

[pytheas22]

kungfoofool: sorry to hear about the regression. ndiswrapper will hopefully work with less hassle. To get ndiswrapper working, you need the Windows wireless driver for your card. If you could post a link to the driver that you used (or upload the .exe or .zip file if it came on a CD), that would be great. If not, please post the output of this command so I'll at least know what kind of chipset you use and can try to find a Windows driver online:

lspci -nn | grep -i atheros

I also need to know whether you use 32- or 64-bit Ubuntu. If you don't know, post the output of:

uname -m

[calle#52]

Hi,

I'm experiencing the same problem on my Dell (Studio XPS 13). The command above gave the following:

lspci -nn | grep -i atheros
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002a] (rev 01)

lshw -C Network
description: Wireless interface
product: AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
logical name: wmaster0
version: 01
serial: 00:22:5f:99:32:b9
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k latency=0 module=ath9k multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn

uname-rm
2.6.28-14-generic x86_64

sudo iwlist scan
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

dmesg | grep -e ath -e wlan
[ 4.308251] device-mapper: multipath: version 1.0.5 loaded
[ 4.308252] device-mapper: multipath round-robin: version 1.0.0 loaded
[ 11.658860] ath9k: 0.1
[ 11.658882] ath9k 0000:06:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[Z016] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21
[ 11.658889] ath9k 0000:06:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 12.092296] phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'ath9k_rate_control'
[ 12.112279] Registered led device: ath9k-phy0:radio
[ 12.112306] Registered led device: ath9k-phy0:assoc
[ 12.112331] Registered led device: ath9k-phy0:tx
[ 12.112359] Registered led device: ath9k-phy0:rx
[ 17.725026] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 388.069680] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 545.697696] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 545.838692] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready


Hope this gives you an idea about what's wrong

[pytheas22]

calle#52 and kungfoofool: please disregard what I've written above about ndiswrapper. I read through this thread again (which was started about a year ago), remembered what I went through with the original poster then, and recalled that ndiswrapper won't work for this type of wireless card (unless things have changed since last summer).

However, what we do successfully do to get the original poster's card working was to run these commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Now reboot your machine. When it's done, continue by typing:

wget http://burnthesorbonne.com/files/compat-wireless-ath9k-20080916.tar.gz
tar -xzvf compat-wireless-ath9k-20080916.tar.gz 
sudo ./compat-wireless-ath9k-20080916.sh

At this point a shell script will run that will help you compile a new wireless driver based on the code that worked a year ago. Follow the instructions on the screen for getting it set up. When it's finished, run:

sudo dpkg --install compat*deb

Then reboot, and see if things work better. Hopefully this will do it.

[calle#52]

pytheas22: Thanks for the swift reply

Just one question before I try your solution: Why is it that you would recomend the 20080916 build? If I'm not mistaken newer versions have been released on http://linuxwireless.org

I'm a bit in over my head here, so please bear with me on this one

[freewheel84]

Hello

I am absolutely new to linux, i have a band new hp dv3-2155mx laptop and installed the latest version of ubuntu on it (9.01 i believe), i cannot get my wireless to work, the make of the card is Atheros 9825 , from what i have followed after reading evrything over the net it comes back as network unclaimed, i dont have a wired acces from ubuntu, i need help.

[pytheas22]

Just one question before I try your solution: Why is it that you would recomend the 20080916 build? If I'm not mistaken newer versions have been released on http://linuxwireless.org

I recommended the old build because other people in this thread already tried the new one (on page 2, where I asked kungfoofool and geruetzel to compile the compat-wireless files that downloaded from linuxwireless.org) and it didn't seem to solve the problem of dropping connections. The old one did work a year ago on Ubuntu 8.04, so hopefully it will work better now.

freewheel84: please start a new thread (so as not to clutter this one) and I'll reply there. In your thread, please include the output of:

lspci -nn
lshw -C Network
dmesg | grep -e ath -e wlan
uname -rm

Since you don't have the exact same model of wireless card as the other posters here, your solution is likely to be different.

[calle#52]

Tried the suggested solution with partial successful result. Managed to get connected once. After an hour I got disconnected. When trying to reconnect, it fails. Here is a print of the /var/log/syslog:

Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Config: added 'ssid' value 'smurfen'
Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Config: added 'scan_ssid' value '1'
Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'WPA-PSK'
Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Config: added 'psk' value '<omitted>'
Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: nm_setting_802_1x_get_pkcs11_engine_path: assertion `NM_IS_SETTING_802_1X (setting)' failed
Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: nm_setting_802_1x_get_pkcs11_module_path: assertion `NM_IS_SETTING_802_1X (setting)' failed
Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Config: set interface ap_scan to 1
Aug 1 16:44:43 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: disconnected -> scanning
Aug 1 16:45:02 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: scanning -> associating
Aug 1 16:45:02 calle-laptop kernel: [ 2419.769870] wlan0: authenticate with AP ffff88015c971ac0
Aug 1 16:45:02 calle-laptop kernel: [ 2419.779248] wlan0: authenticate with AP ffff88015c971ac0
Aug 1 16:45:02 calle-laptop kernel: [ 2419.781243] wlan0: authenticated
Aug 1 16:45:02 calle-laptop kernel: [ 2419.781246] wlan0: associate with AP ffff88015c971ac0
Aug 1 16:45:02 calle-laptop kernel: [ 2419.784682] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from ffff88015e0d204a (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=1)
Aug 1 16:45:02 calle-laptop kernel: [ 2419.784685] wlan0: associated
Aug 1 16:45:02 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: associating -> associated
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: associated -> 4-way handshake
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: 4-way handshake -> group handshake
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: group handshake -> completed
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) successful. Connected to wireless network 'smurfen'.
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) scheduled.
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) started...
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 5 -> 7
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Beginning DHCP transaction.
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop dhclient: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.1
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop dhclient: Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop dhclient: All rights reserved.
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop dhclient: For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop dhclient:
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> dhclient started with pid 5904
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete.
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> DHCP: device wlan0 state changed normal exit -> preinit
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop dhclient: Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:22:5f:99:32:b9
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop dhclient: Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:22:5f:99:32:b9
Aug 1 16:45:05 calle-laptop dhclient: Sending on Socket/fallback
Aug 1 16:45:06 calle-laptop dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
Aug 1 16:45:13 calle-laptop dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
Aug 1 16:45:24 calle-laptop dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 16
Aug 1 16:45:40 calle-laptop dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
Aug 1 16:45:47 calle-laptop kernel: [ 2464.393269] wlan0: beacon loss from AP ffff88015c971ac0 - sending probe request
Aug 1 16:45:49 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: completed -> disconnected
Aug 1 16:45:49 calle-laptop kernel: [ 2466.393092] wlan0: no probe response from AP ffff88015c971ac0 - disassociating
Aug 1 16:45:49 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: disconnected -> scanning
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Device 'wlan0' DHCP transaction took too long (>45s), stopping it.
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> wlan0: canceled DHCP transaction, dhcp client pid 5904
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) scheduled...
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) started...
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 7 -> 9
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) failed for access point (smurfen)
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Marking connection 'smurfen' invalid.
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) failed.
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) complete.
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 9 -> 3
Aug 1 16:45:51 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason: 0).
Aug 1 16:46:50 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (eth0): carrier now ON (device state 2)
Aug 1 16:46:50 calle-laptop NetworkManager: <info> (eth0): device state change: 2 -> 3

Without being an expert: I could see that the log states that the connection took to long to establish.

Another issue: when I had connection it was SLOW (very slow) compared to the wired connection.

Any suggestions?

[pytheas22]

Is the signal strength weak when you're connected? Did it take a long time to connect the time it was successful?

You may have better luck if you used wicd instead of NetworkManager. You can install wicd with:

sudo apt-get install wicd

Then launch it from the Applications>Internet menu. Sometimes wicd does a better job of creating and maintaining a connection than NM.

(Note that installing wicd will require the removal of NetworkManager. If you want NM back, type 'sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome'.)